#jacpubsdoc

[futuristickidnerd-blog]

Statistics Canada faces backlash over its data-collecting practices, compromising ongoing and future projects that assist the processes of compiling accurate data. Analysts note that the controversy could have been averted had agency been more open about what information collects and how is such information protected to Canadians. The agency replied that survey response rate had been declining lately which forces the agency to turn to new sources to acquire information like banking information compiled by other organizations. Additionally, former Statistics Canada officials join in the debate saying that private and sensitive information is carefully protected but the federal privacy commissioner observes that any government agency that manages private information needs to put preventive measures to prevent abuse.

[nataliekwood-blog1]

A Summary of: “Government Urged to Rein in Canadian Commercial Corporation on Arms Deals” By Mike Blanchfield

Two arms-trade watchdogs, Project Ploughshares and Amnesty International, are urging the Crown corporation, Canadian Commercial Corporation, to better regulate to whom arms are sold to ensure that they are not getting into the hands of those who violate human-rights. This federal agency facilitates other Canadian companies in selling arms and weapons internationally to foreign governments.

In 2014, under the Conservative government, 15 billion dollars in armoured vehicles were sold to Saudi Arabia, and according to the Trudeau government, must be honoured to avoid billions of dollars worth of penalties. Saudi Arabia is currently being reviewed for possible rights violations because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the civil rights war in Yemen.

Although yet to be passed, Bill C-47 will enforce that the Canadian Commercial Corporation must follow the provisions for human-rights within the UN treaty on international arms deals before signing any new or future arms deals. Both watchdogs intend to communicate to the Senate foreign-affairs committee this week that it is essential that it be put into law that a potential customer’s human-rights record be evaluated before any deal is signed. Furthermore, all Canadian government departments and agencies must also conform to these requirements.

[jpdesautels-blog]

Bill C-86 seeks to change Canada’s labour code in some major ways. These would mainly affect the minimum standards required of employers towards their employees.

Ideas included in the bill were taken from consultations with multiple different sources including trade unions, employers, university professors and other experts in related fields. The changes will affect: work hours, breaks, equal treatment of all employees, annual vacations, general holidays, temporary help agencies, individual and group terminations, medical leave and family violence leave.

It has already gone through both first and second readings and has now been sent to the Standing Committee on Finance for further analysis.

[am-fitz]

The federal government has gone ahead and tabled legislation in the House of Commons today, Thursday, November 22, 2018 that, once passed, will force Canada Post employees back to work. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, introduced Bill C-89, the “Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act,” alongside another motion to speed up its passage. She also said that the two sides can still continue to negotiate even if the bill passes but introduced a special mediator to help out. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is angry with the government saying that back-to-work legislation undermines the negotiations. However, the Prime Minister said something needed to be done because the strikes were hurting businesses and the public, especially during the holiday season.

MPs have already started debating the motion and are expected to vote on it tomorrow, Friday, November 23, 2018. Normally this process can take weeks or months longer but, by limiting the time MPs have to debate the proposed bill at second and third reading, and studying it in an hour-long “committee of the whole” meeting instead of in smaller committees first, the bill could be passed in the House on Friday. However, it would still need to be passed in the Senate so they have passed a motion to sit on Saturday, a rare occurrence, in case they are needed. The bill also states that the legislation will come into force at noon on the day after it receives royal assent.

[blessmimi-blog]

Maham Abedi, addresses the current situation regarding the consumption of lettuce in both Canada and the United States. As of Nov. 20, 2018, several people have been affected by E. coli in both Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Even though the cause of this contamination in lettuce is not obvious yet, Public Health Agency suspects it is related to the previous case recorded last year. Due to this out break, a safety warning is issued to the two provinces affected in Canada to stay away from lettuce for the mean time.

[isabelshaw]

Scientists have long since demanded more impartial parties to examine projects and their risk to the environment. On November 19th, 180 British-Columbian scientists and academics signed an open letter to Premier John Horgan advocating for “greater scientific independence, mandatory peer review of evidence, and more transparency in review processes and decisions” in Bill 51. Bill 51 was intended to amend the way that the provincial government “reviews and approves industrial projects such as mines, dams and pipelines.” Scientists and academics deem it insufficient. “[P]roject reviews would continue to prioritize evidence generated by the proponent, without demanding independent peer review. The new legislation also contains no requirement that all the proponent’s data – and all records regarding assessment of the evidence – be made available to the public.” The letter is linked at the end of the article.

[marieeveboyer-blog]

The Coalistion Avenir Quebec tabled Thursday a legislator regarding school taxes. If bill 3 passes, it would mean a single rate of school taxes for everyone, no matter where you live. This would mean 0.10$ per 100$ of your houses value and $700 million a year annually. 

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said that they plan to compensate the loss on school board by giving them money from the general fund. Opposition parties are concerned about the government ability to give the same quality of service, in this case education, with less money. Their question is, if the government has $700 million available to invest in education, why not just use it on top of the existing school taxes?

[jshenilt2018-blog]

Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen announced Tuesday that the provincial government had introduced new legislation that would allow disclosure of personal health information in certain circumstances.

The proposed change to the Personal Health Information Act would allow people such as caregivers, loved-ones or support people to obtain a patient’s personal health information without their consent in exceptional circumstances to reduce the risk of serious harm being done to the health or safety of the patient or others. The Mental Health Act would also be amended so that a patient’s clinical record in a psychiatric facility could be disclosed without consent.

The minister says the PHIA legislation is under review and more amendments may be introduced in 2019.

[futuristickidnerd-blog]

On Thursday, Statistics Canada reported a fall of total exports by 1.2 percent in October resulting in an increased trade deficit of a $1.2 billion, in comparison, the deficit was of $891 million during September. Notably, energy products exports fell 12.4 percent mainly due to the 15.4 percent plunge of crude oil price. Despite this unfavourable outcome, CIBC economist Katherine Judge noted the increase in export volumes as a positive indicator for manufacturing shipments and monthly GDP in her report. The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate target unchanged due to the oil prices and the decline in business investment. Conversely exports of motor vehicles and parts increased 4.4 percent to $7.8 billion while total imports fell 0.6 percent to $50.5 billion in October.      

[nataliekwood-blog1]

A Summary of: “Environment Ministry Settles NPCA Debate” by Grant LaFleche

After being defeated in October’s municipal election, Sandy Annunziata, and his fellow board members, on the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) board argued according to a regulation within the Conservation Authorities Act from 1994 that they could be a part of the process of appointing new members of the board. However, according to the Environment Ministry, amendments to Section 8 of the Act made in 1998, and additionally in 2017, clearly give the sole authority for new appointments or replacements of members to Niagara municipalities. Therefore, since Annunziata is no longer a member of the regional council, he does not have the power to participate in choosing new board members. The resolution to this issue comes after many inquiries into clarifying the inner workings of the process of selecting new members for the NPCA board.

[jpdesautels-blog]

The Alberta Party recently put forth its first bill since being elected. Bill 209, also known as the Strategies for Unemployed and Underemployed Albertans Act, was built by consulting multiple groups of people including: economists, First Nations, recruiters and unemployed people over the course of multiple months.

It aims to help unemployed or underemployed Albertans to get back into full employment.

However, private members of the government have complained at the lack of debates regarding their own bills due to the focus put onto Bill 209 by the government’s executive branch and other emergency business.

In addition to this, 2018′s current sitting is set to end on Thursday which would prevent it from being voted on in time.

[am-fitz]

This article is about generating economic growth in Canada from ideas instead of goods. It mentions Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, and her commitment to modernizing NAFTA and ensuring Canada has a competitive technology sector. The article shares hiring data from Statistics Canada that shows that much of the action in today’s economy is centred around professional, scientific, and technical services. This is the “intangible economy” that is made up of ideas like intellectual property and work processes instead of tangible goods like canola and brake pads. Carmichael wants Freeland to invest in an economy that derives its wealth not only from tangible resources like oil and gas but, even more importantly, from intangible ones like high-performing information technology and data management companies. The article also mentions StatCan’s monthly survey of company payrolls that shows certain sectors like the oil-and-gas industry generating less wealth than other less tangible sectors now. Carmichael also emphasizes that creating economic growth from ideas instead of goods will require different policies and much greater government funding of post-secondary education. Being aggressive about maintaining leadership and creating industry standards in Canadian companies, is also highlighted.

[blessmimi-blog]

Joseph Shagra, highlights the usefulness of e-government in confronting corruption in Kuwait. This will enable transactions of all types to be done without coming in contact with people. At the 6th E-government Forum in Kuwait, which focuses on how change is managed in this digital transformation era. Also, one of the speakers in the forum states that electronic services is implemented in order for them to improve government services for the people of Kuwait and it residents. This implementation is specifically supported by political leaders and the prime minister in particular. Despite the challenges associated with e-government, all the information centers located in Kuwait are ready to work together to make the country a better place for its citizens.

[isabelshaw]

Health Canada is making changes to Bill S-228 regarding the marketing of food products to children. This was brought around by the food industry’s fear that it would label a wide range of products as “unhealthy” and impact their sales. 

The definition of “unhealthy” is being debated, toying with applying the word to bread and dairy products. Health Canada has proposed nutritional guidelines, but only “an $8 loaf of bread” managed to pass. 

“Industry stakeholders say the change reverses Health Canada’s initial decision to consider nutritional criteria first, and whether the product is marketed to children, second.” Health Canada has not yet made a decision on removing or replacing the term “unhealthy.”

[samah191-blog]

A Montreal widow risks being deported because of her husband’s tragic death last year. Nicolas Faubert has passed away, just weeks before Sophie Thewys and her son gets their permanent residency approval. Now, the case is under review by the federal government. Quebec NDP MP Matthew Dubé has tabled an e-petition with nearly 1,794 signatories by which he has sponsored previously, this year. He urged Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to practice discretionary power to prevent the removing of permanent residence status from Thewys and her son.

The minister response was: “….The department has noted your concerns and is looking into the case,”

The response came as Dubé describes: a “cardboard cut-out.” He feels sorry for his constituent and that her grieving process is not getting any easier while contesting and waiting for the IRCC decision.

Dubé had written two letters, so far, to the minister about Thewys’s case and he didn’t expect such response and delay. Dubé will not give up and is hoping that the case will come to a positive resolution.Unfortunately, due to privacy laws, the Minister Office refused to comment on this specific case.

[haidicphoto]

Senator Wilfred Moor introduced bill S-203, which aims to end cetaceans captivity, cetaceans being the collective term for whales, dolphins and porpoises. It would also make it illegal to both hold and breed cetaceans in captivity. Since 2017, Green party leader Elizabeth May has supported the bill as well as top marine biologists and scientists from around the world.

Lori Marino, a marine mammal expert has spent 2 years exploring potential sites in Novia Scotia that has the potential to house a sanctuary with a capacity of about a dozen formerly captive whales and dolphins. The sanctuary would have educational and research benefits for any community willing to open its doors. Many whales are born in captivity and lack required skills to be simply set free. A sanctuary would be the closest they would ever get to being returned to the wild. 

According to Marino, the ideal location for a sanctuary would be a bay or cove deep enough so the animals can dive, would need to be relatively protected and shouldn’t interfere with the fisheries or other local businesses. Although, some local fishermen are concerned about the space needed for a sanctuary, if one can be found in the first place, and if it will interfere with business.